Re: "Going
to hell in a handbasket"

: : Can anyone tell me about, "Going to hell in a handbasket," and
it's origins???

: : Thank you!!

: : Brad

: From a previous discussion (type
in "handbasket" in the archives search):

: http://www.randomhouse.com/:

:
Clues to the origin of "going to hell in a handbasket," meaning "deteriorating
rapidly or utterly," are, unfortunately, scarce as hens' teeth. The eminent slang
historian Eric Partridge, in his "Dictionary of Catchphrases," dates the term
to the early 1920's. Christine Ammer, in her "Have A Nice Day -- No Problem,"
a dictionary of cliches, agrees that the phrase probably dates to the early 20th
century, and notes that the alliteration of "hell" and "handbasket" probably contributed
to the popularity of the saying. Ms. Ammer goes a bit further and ventures that,
since handbaskets are "light and easily conveyed," the term "means going to hell
easily and rapidly." That seems a bit of a stretch to me, but I do think the addition
of "in a handbasket" (or "in a bucket," as one variant puts it) does sound more
dire and hopeless than simply "going to hell."

: Anyone have anything new to
offer?

Off the cuff, here in West London we often hear the expression 'going
to hell in a handcart' I must do a little research to try and establish its origin.